The Anambra State Government has challenged former governor Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, escalating its dispute with the Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate over his administration’s financial record.
The government, through its New Media Office, asked on Tuesday: “When will Peter Obi quit presidential campaign?”
It accompanied the post with a copy of a letter dated April 25, 2006, which it said was signed by Chuks Iloegbunam, then Obi’s Chief of Staff.
The document, titled “GUBERNATORIAL PREROGATIVE,” made a special appeal to Obi over alleged salary arrears owed workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
According to the document released by the state government, the corporation’s monthly salary bill was about ₦15m and its workers had last been paid in February.
The letter also referred to a campaign manifesto attributed to Obi which allegedly pledged that the governor would resign if workers were not paid as and when due.
It appealed to Obi to include the Water Corporation among government parastatals funded through subventions to prevent workers from repeatedly approaching his office over unpaid salaries.
The authenticity of the letter has not been independently established from the sources reviewed. It is therefore being treated as a document released by the Anambra government rather than independently verified evidence.
The latest confrontation is part of a wider dispute over Obi’s financial record as governor between 2006 and March 2014.
The Anambra government recently said eight external loans associated with projects under Obi’s administration had an outstanding balance of ₦127.4bn as of June 30, 2026.
The government also alleged that outstanding salary, pension and gratuity obligations from the period remained unresolved, including arrears involving former Water Corporation workers.
Obi has rejected the claims.
The former governor has maintained that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or obligations to contractors whose work had been processed and certified.
He has also said his administration cleared more than ₦35bn in historical gratuities and arrears.
Obi challenged the Anambra government to produce evidence that he left the state with the liabilities being alleged, saying he would stop campaigning for the presidency if such claims were established.
The dispute subsequently drew the attention of the Presidency, with Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga challenging Obi to honour his pledge after the state government released its debt figures.
The APC Presidential Campaign Council has also called on Obi to leave the 2027 race over the controversy.
The latest statement from Anambra adds another dimension to the increasingly political dispute.
At issue are competing accounts of the state’s financial position when Obi left office, including the treatment of external loans, salary arrears, pensions, gratuities and funds said to have been available at the time of the 2014 transition.
The two sides have presented sharply different interpretations of the records.
The Anambra government maintains that Obi left financial obligations that subsequent administrations have had to address, while Obi maintains that he cleared the liabilities inherited by his administration and left office without the outstanding obligations now alleged.
As the 2027 presidential contest approaches, the dispute is likely to remain part of the political debate over Obi’s record as governor and his campaign for the presidency.
